OSU Engineer Named New Boeing Professor of Design

Story Posted: Fri, Mar 2, 2007

By Tracy Ann Robinson, 541-737-464
Source: Belinda Batten, 541-737-9492

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Robert Paasch, a professor of mechanical engineering at Oregon State University, has been named the university’s new Boeing Professor of Mechanical Engineering Design.

The professorship was established by Boeing in 1992 to support and augment the mechanical engineering design curriculum at OSU.

“We at Boeing are excited about the appointment of Robert Paasch as the new Boeing Professor,” said Jeff Klemann, Boeing Quality Director and current OSU–Boeing Executive Focal. “Bob has a stellar record of design instruction at OSU and the full support of the past Boeing Professor and current Boeing leadership. He possesses the experience and understanding of advanced design processes, and his design and real industry practices knowledge are a definite asset for creating work-ready graduates."

Paasch, an OSU faculty member for 17 years, worked closely with the first Boeing Professor, Bill Reiter, to introduce topics such as digital enterprise technology and product lifecycle management (PLM) into the curriculum. He also bolstered the hands-on component of the undergraduate mechanical engineering experience at OSU by expanding the student machine shop, introducing new design software and other technologies and otherwise enhancing students’ training in engineering design, which has become a signature quality of work-ready graduates in the OSU Department of Mechanical Engineering.

In his new position, Paasch plans to bring global product development into the mechanical, industrial and manufacturing engineering curriculum. He is currently working to incorporate PLM tools such as Dassault Systemes’ ENOVIA into the curriculum. He will also focus on developing global academic relationships, then leverage those relationships by developing projects that utilize global design teams connected through the PLM software.

“Thanks to the partnership and support of the Boeing Company, we’re able to recognize and utilize the talents of outstanding professors like Bob Paasch,” said Belinda Batten, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at OSU. “Bob inspires our students by teaching them innovative engineering concepts, challenging them to apply those concepts in hands-on design projects and helping them move forward into successful careers at companies like Boeing and others. In carrying on Bill Reiter’s practice of bringing the latest industry tools and methods into our curriculum, Bob equips our students with skills that students from other universities generally don’t possess. This is part of the ‘edge’ our graduates have when entering the workplace.”

A member of the American Society for Mechanical Engineering (ASME) Design-Engineering Division and the Baja SAE International Rules Committee, Paasch is also the faculty advisor for the OSU Formula SAE and Baja SAE student teams. Last year, under his leadership, the Baja SAE team designed and built a vehicle that earned the world championship title in the 2006 Baja SAE international competition.

Paasch’s research interests include design for universal access, mechanical design interface with machine learning and artificial intelligence, diagnosibility of mechanical systems and new product realization.

Paasch holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a master’s in agricultural engineering from UC Davis, and a PhD in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley. Before joining the faculty at OSU in 1990, Paasch was an engineer in the weapons engineering division at Lawrence Livermore National Labs. He has ten years of industry experience in new product development.

The Boeing Company has a long history of partnering with Oregon State University, including collaborative research relationships with faculty; participation in curriculum development; material support such as lab equipment and software donations, scholarships and fellowships and guest instructorships; and hiring numerous OSU graduates. Key executives of the company have held important volunteer leadership roles in the OSU College of Engineering.